One of the blogs i read regularly is "Not Made of Money".  Today they have posted three slow cooker recipes that sound like real winners. 

I don't want to lose them and I figure there are others who might need some summer time ideas. 

So,  go ahead and think this is an entirely unselfish act as I post the link to the recipes in a spot I think I can remember.

If you get a chance to use them before I do, let me know how you like them.  I am particularly interested in the Macaroni and Cheese or the Mexican dish.  I'm thinking of trying the ribs for Father's Day.

He worked very hard for this.  We are all extremely proud of him!

Cottage School was finished Wednesday.  Our testing is complete as of this morning.  All I have to do is mail off the answer sheets and have the kids organize their portfolios and put them away in their closets.

I am so glad this school year is over.  it has been a very busy year.  In fact, even though school is over, we still have work that will force us into a summer session of sorts. 

Michael was sick for several weeks which caused him to fall behind in all his classes.  We focused on his writing and lit classes at the expense of Latin and Math.  He will have to make these up between camping trips this summer.

Genna only has about 10 Math lessons to go.  She will finish this up in a matter of days.  We also are pulling Girl Scouts into June in order to finish up the Bronze Award.  I have about six girls who are hanging on to get this done.  then Genna and I will spend some time reading and writing this summer to get her ready for her Lit class next year.  She will be in the same class as Michael but Michael has two years experience to help him with the reading and writing.

Nikita has officially graduated from Preschool.  He has a diploma and medal to prove it.  With all the struggles we went through last year, his diploma is a major symbol of success for me.  He has come such a long way in the past year.  He knows his letters quite well, is starting to ask me to spell things so he can write them, and writes quite neatly too.  I have no doubt he will fit right in to his K class next year.  And we still have all summer to keep growing!

Genna had her gymnastics show this week.  She did two roundoff-back handsprings in the show!  For those of you, like me who don't know if this is good or bad, this means she has graduated to the advanced gymnastics class.  She and Nikita will be taking classes this summer.  Nikita has decided he likes this better than soccer. 

My plans for the summer include a homeschool conference or two, some painting in the living room and Nikita's room, a visit to Michigan and another to NC and major collapse in between all this. 

 I'm hoping to be able to keep you up on the little things that go on this summer.  As it is, I feel guilty because I haven't told you anyhting about our trip to Durham or our trips to Staten Island, Dc and Virginia Beach.  They were all amazing but I haven't had time to recap.  Maybe I'll enter some post dated posts to keep the blog complete.

Kostya and his family made it to the Us from Ukraine.  We spent the past week with them exploring New York, Washington DC, Winchester and Virginia Beach.  We had an amazing time.  We have already made a pact to get together in two years in Turkey.

While you are enjoying the picture, I will be busy planning the travel budget.

Genna earned a silver medal for her effort on the National Mythology Exam, offered by the American Classical League.

The Mythology exam is offered to 3rd thru 12 grade students across the country in the late winter.  Genna studied for this exam for months.  When the day came to take the test she was so sick she couldn't go to school. 

The examiner offered to stop by on her way to the post office to administer the test.  We compromised by letting Genna go to the school during the testing time and sit at a table by herself so she wouldn't give her "bug" to anyone else. 

Not only did she get through the test but she did a terrific job!  She is most proud of this medal because it the first medal she has truly earned and is not just a participation medal.  i am just proud of her ambition and refusal to quit.  In order to earn a gold medal a student had to get 100% on the exam.  Silver medals were awarded for 93-99% correct results.

Elizabeth blogged about Erin's post from Jen's links of Stephanie's original post who borrowed from Covey's love of the number 7 to make housekeeping easy.

Don'cha love the internet?

Anyway, I just can't understandwhy, if housekeeping is as easy at these seven habits, I can't manage to keep my house from lloking like a bomb went off in every room.  Maybe it's because on the rare days that i manage to hit every task, the rest of the family undoes everything I have just done.

Since i am already in the middle of a positive habit forming initiative (See previous posts.) i am going to attempt to develop the first seven habits mentioned not only for myself but for the other three persons over which I have some (but not much) influence.

The habits are:

Number 1: Make Beds Right Away (I'll have to get out clean linens for this one.)

Number 2: Do One Complete Load of Laundry (Maybe two today because of the above note.)

Number 3: Empty All Garbage Cans (This could easily be a Nikita task!)

Number 4: Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty (Tough one!)

Number 5: Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same (mmm, I think this one will need some work.)

Number 6: Bathroom Wipe-Down (I've always called this one "Tub, Teeth and Toilet.")

Number 7: Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up  (This is a tough one for me too.)

We'll add the advice of Erin for habit number seven next week.  For now I'll get us all working on the other six.

I got up earlier today.  Both Michael and Genna said they wanted to run this morning so we had to get out there and back before Richard left for work. 

Michael bailed on us.  He said his teeth hurt too much.  Uh huh.  In his defense, he had an orthodontist appointment yesterday.  They added elastic bands that run from his top teeth to his bottom ones.  Like that's going to help his mumbling one bit!  I asked for extras in case I needed to keep him quiet for a while.

So, Genna and I ran 90 seconds and walked 2 minutes for ten reps.  I had hoped it would be easy after my long run from Saturday.  i suppose it might have been even harder, but it was certainly was not easy.  The only satisfaction I have is that I should not have to deal with the lactic acid burn this week like i did last week.  I hate that.

Yesterday Genna's scout troop was recognized by the School Board for their contribution to the school community by cleaning up the litter in the school yard this spring.  They were asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and my co-Leader read the board's Creed.  We hung around for the rest of the meeting so the girls could get an idea of what the board does.  We heard about stimulus money, middle school sports and the flu.  At least the girls had an idea of what those topics were.

I hereby promise to get up early on Thursday morning and run, whether my kids join me or not!

Not that I'm mentioning who the doubters are...

 Yes, that is the pace car in the scond photo, right behind us.  No, there is nobody else between us and the pace car.   

So, our 2009 Winchester Apple Blossom festival is over.  I think I can say we all had a good time and worked hard.  Richard and Michael spent a good chunk of time helping the Boy Scouts with their Parade seat fundraiser.  We participated in the races and saw the parades.  We never made it to the Circus or the Carnival this year.  The Sunday "Day in the Park" was pretty much rained out, although Richard still worked it as volunteer with the Knights of Columbus.

I love how this small town pulls together to put on such a wonderful seasonal celebration.  Although I keep saying that Winchester is a big city, bigger than they realize, they really do become a small town where everyone has to do their share when it comes to delivering this annual festival.  The organizers of the two races are friends of ours from church.  I knew band members from almost all of the dozen or so local bands that march in the parades.  Even the group home in my neighborhood manned a rest stop on the 10K.  (There's nothing like a big hug to keep you going on a tough run!)

I am still eagerly waiting for the opportunity to share our hometown festival with family or friends.  It's alway the first weekend in May.  There's room in our house for guests and the airport is only about an hour away.  Book your reservations now for next year!

Yep, i kept my promise this morning.

And then some.  Michael and I ran in the Apple Blossom 10K race.

Yes, I actually ran, a bit, more than i would have run in my neighborhood.

Yes, i actually finished.  I even finished within the 90 minute time requirement, with a whole 25 seconds to spare!

I was pretty much the caboose.  Of over 1200 finishers there were only 4 behind me.  But there were hundreds who didn't even try, and many others who started and didn't finish.  I feel pretty good about the effort.  I figure i will start to regret it tomorrow. 

I saw the last of Michael at the starting line.  He finished in just under an hour, (59:06) without any training.  Then he took a shower and headed down to march in the parade.  I took a shower and headed up to take a nap.  Oh, to be young again!

Genna and Nikita did their running last night in the Bloomin' Mile.  nikita was so excited that he was able to run this year.  He was even more excited that he would be running solo - no parents allowed on the track.  He did amazingly well.  He came over the finish line in tears but once he had some water and an apple he was already talking about next year!  He finished in 11:14, not bad for his first mile.  Genna surprised me by finishing in 9:02.  I guess her running with mom just might pay off.

Yep, I did.  And nobody was chasing me either. 

Okay, well, I did have someone behind me, but that was my running buddy. 

She said it was easier to run behind me than beside me. 

I think she was just a bit surprised at how fast I could go, considering I haven't run in ...oh... well let's just say it's been a while.

I ran Tuesday too.  That run was much easier.  I wasn't aching from every muscle in my lower body on that day.

Okay, so I didn't run ten miles, or even three. 

I didn't even run the whole way, not even most of the way.

I'm back to the "couch to 5k" plan, with a few refinements.  We ran a minute and walked two for ten reps both days.

Right now I feel like lead.

But it's got to be a good lead, right?  The good news is that my joints don't hurt.  It's just the lactic acid burn that I feel in the muscles that aren't used to waking up this early in the morning.

Right here and now I promise that I will get up early on Saturday morning and do it again.

No promises after that.